This week, I would like to summarize some lessons learned from crossing dozens of borders over the last six years. I posted on this topic in December 2014. This article has been updated to reflect my travels in Europe and Canada since then. Continue reading
While the results come in from last week’s survey, I am pleased to host a guest post by Maeva Cifuentes, a freelancer from California, Barcelona, and places in between. Maeva contributed this post to the Freelancer Union blog, and graciously consented to my linking it here.
https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2019/05/13/what-freelancers-can-learn-from-entrepreneurs/
Enjoy!
And here’s the link direct to Maeva’s blog: https://maevaeverywhere.com/freelancers-personal-brand/
Next week, the results of the survey and the first post in the new series.
Smooth roads & tailwinds,
Jonathan
I hope you have enjoyed Days of Lead, at least as much as I enjoyed writing it.
In addition to the usual reminders that all the characters are fictional and any resemblance to real persons is coincidental, I must point out that Days of Lead is not an historical novel. It is the fruit of my own imagination and my experiences growing up as a young translator in Rome.
About that time, Italy was rocked by extremist violence from both the right and the left, not to mention anarchists who hated both sides. By the 1970’s, these bloody years had acquired the moniker anni di piombo, Years of Lead, which inspired the title of this book. I have deliberately set the time of the story at a different point.
After I wrote the first draft, the Piano Solo papers were declassified. I was shocked to discover that my inspiration based only on rumors in the press and recollections of my teenage years had caused me to mirror many aspects of the real coup attempt in my story. I went back and changed characters and times drastically, lest you be misled into thinking that I was reporting on actual events.
Unlike Nancy, my mother was far from being a well-off executive in a multinational company, but she did make it possible for me to attend Notre Dame International School during the time in the book.
And, yes, I did buy myself a Vespa 50, after riding my bicycle in all kinds of weather for seven years.
=========== So what’s next?
I am already working on the second book of the series, as well as the sequel to Emily & Hilda, which ran in this blog during 2018.
I write this blog for your enjoyment more than anything. The two serial novels seem to have been a hit, but I need your input about where to take this blog.
Please take a moment to complete this survey. Feel free to check all that apply, and to leave comments below. If you want to comment just to me, please use the contact form. Thank you!
He was riding his bicycle. That was about the only good thing about the scene right now. The slick, coastal road wound up and around the promontories, so that the wind and rain was as often in his face as blowing him sideways. The cold rain ran off his Arc’teryx rain jacket, soaking his crotch and running down his legs. He pedaled on, one stroke after the other. Continue reading
This week, I would like to share a guest post from Dan and Erika, a very smart couple who have just started out living on the road together. They are fast learners. In this post, they deal with the challenge of spending day in and day out with the same person. That has ups and downs, and they have excellent suggestions for the downs. Enjoy!
Tuesday, 17 October, I woke up in a pleasant, modern room in the Wyndham TRYP Hotel in midtown Manhattan. With plenty of time to catch a 1415 train, I did my stretches, showered, shaved, and packed my panniers for the last time. Catching breakfast at the Starbucks on the corner of 9th Avenue and 34th Street, I witnessed the Modern American Ballet in full form. Six baristas crammed behind a tiny counter took care of a line out the door with incredible efficiency, never once running into one another. Continue reading
On Sunday the 8th of October, we took the bus from Cannes to Grasse. We walked around the historic center of this perfume-making town and visited the International Perfumery Museum, as well as the Fragonard Museum. Continue reading
